IMDb plot summary: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a doppelganger, a poor but kind Jewish barber living in the slums, who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.
Directed by Charles Chaplin. Stars Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard and Reginald Gardiner.
I wasn't at all sure this was going to work. Chaplin is so renowned for his silent movies that I didn't know how I would feel about his transition to talkies. However, this is my favorite Chaplin of them all. So many of the same wonderful types of physical jokes are still in this movie, but along with it is a very, very funny script with marvelous dialogue and witty jokes. Despite the satirical nature of this story, it never loses its heart - something I have always loved about Chaplin's films. This one gets my vote for the most consistently funny of his, and is certainly the one I enjoyed the most. 4 stars.
Best Part: The dictator himself is hilarious. So many little moments are great, but the first one that really made me laugh out loud is the scene where he's jumping from room to room and stops in one room to have his portrait painted/sculpture sculpted for 3 seconds at a time, and then he leaves. That just made me giggle.
Worst Part: That female lead was sometimes marvelous but, man, did she get smug on occasion.
Flickchart: #521, below The Birds and above The Kite Runner.
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